Joyland Festival 2023: Mew Talks Inspirations & Their Grand Return to Jakarta

By Dale B  •  28 Nov 2023 in Features

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Formed in Copenhagen amongst high school friends, Mew has since become a Danish icon in their own right. The band has been around for almost 30 years, with seven albums under their belt since 1997. 

Described as a mix between progressive and indie rock, Mew has been compared to the likes of Radiohead and Muse, though music fans can definitely say that Mew carries their own je ne sais quoi on stage. 

Mew is led by Jonas Bjerre on vocals, Silas Graae on drums, Johan Wohlert on bass, and joined by touring members Nick Watts and Mads Wegner.

The group performed on the first day of the Joyland Festival 2023 in Jakarta, with JUICE interviewing the band after their raucous performance. 

JUICE: What was it like being back in Indonesia since your last performance in 2018?

Jonas Bjerre: It’s great, we actually were not supposed to play any shows in 2023, but we got this offer from Joyland and we were like oh, we get to go to Indonesia again, so we had to say yes. We did rehearsals and flew a long way to do one show.

JUICE: After playing music together for almost 30 years now, at what stage would you say Mew is currently in as a band?

Jonas Bjerre: I think we still have the same mission which is just to keep experimenting with music and see what we can do with it, and try to do something different without repeating ourselves too much. We are always trying to stay curious and see where our music takes us.

JUICE: You mention Prince as one of your musical inspirations outside of rock bands like Nirvana, Sonic Youth, etc. What songs or albums in your repertoire specifically references Prince’s music?

Jonas Bjerre: I think it’s hard to pinpoint it because it’s more like an amalgam of all kinds of stuff that we’ve been introduced to. When I was young, I listened to what my parents listened to, like Eurythmics, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel and stuff like that. 

In high school, we all listened to Nirvana when we first started the band and there was also mostly a post-rock influence for sure in the beginning. But then later on we allowed some of the ’80s inspiration to shine through a little bit as well. 

JUICE: For us here in Southeast Asia, your song ‘Am I Wry? No’ is a particular favourite. What are your thoughts on the song’s legacy and what was the inspiration behind it?

Jonas Bjerre: What was the inspiration? I don’t know. It came together in quite a weird way. It’s sort of like we kind of pushed it into place, like a square peg into a round hole. 

In the middle of ‘Am I Wry? No’, the song mirrors itself a little bit. It goes backwards in the melody and it has a weird symmetry to it that’s kind of hard to reproduce. It is a very unique song and very uniquely us, so I’m glad that people consider it to be a favourite.

As for the song’s title, it was inspired by an article about dogs and a special medical syndrome where they can have a twisted jaw and a wry mouth. I also thought it would be cool to have a song title that asks a question and answers it.

JUICE: What are your thoughts on the current indie music landscape and how has it changed throughout your career?

Jonas Bjerre: The way music is introduced to the world is quite different now, with streaming and everything. It’s maybe a little bit less album-oriented but we still enjoy making albums because it’s like a body of work in a way that fits together. I think we’ll always be kind of an album band, although who can tell?

JUICE: What advice do you have for up-and-coming musical artists from Southeast Asia?

Jonas Bjerre: Yeah, it’s weird, when younger bands ask me for advice, I have really none to give because I don’t really understand or even know what TikTok is. I don’t know how to go about it besides telling you all to just be yourself and do what you want to do, that’s the gist of it.

JUICE: For the whole band, who are your current favourite musical acts?

Nick Watts: I was disappointed that we didn’t get to see Otoboke Beaver here in Joyland, the Japanese punk band. They’re really young and they play like crazy, especially their drummer. They are a really fun band to see live.

Silas Graae: I agree with Nick, Otoboke Beaver would be my pick too. 

Jonas Bjerre: I still listen a lot to this Bolivian singer, Luzmila Carpio, she’s amazing. She plays these plugged-string instruments very beautifully. It’s very, very unusual and I like it a lot.

Mads Wegner: I listened to the Frozen soundtrack a lot with my daughter, soundtracks from both movies. We have a major Elsa situation going on back home. But apart from that, I like this indie metal band called Sleep Token from the UK.

Johan Wohlert: My mind has gone blank. I honestly don’t know. I actually don’t know what was the last record. I didn’t even listen to music on the way here, I listened to some podcasts. Just boring stuff, like cars and football, you know?